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YORKTOWN, N.Y. -- In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, Yorktown became a model for emergency preparedness.

Supervisor Michael Grace and Councilman Terrence Murphy discussed the town's response to emergencies in light of Legislator Michael Kaplowitz's comments on the response to Sandy, particularly of Con Edison and New York State Electric and Gas Corproation. (NYSEG)

"The weather gods have been a lot kinder to us, " Kaplowitz said in an interview with The Daily Voice.

Kaplowitz said he was critical and remains vigilant about making sure Con Ed and NYSEG respond promptly after storms.

"Through the Moreland Commission they have been held accountable," Kaplwotz said. "Recommendations have been made. There are number of things they have integrated."

Kaplowitz said utility companies should be more forthcoming during disasters and it is important to make sure power is restored as quickly as possible.

"We’ve learned," Kaplowitz said. "They’ve learned. I hope it can save us dollars and potential headaches."

Grace and Murphy said Yorktown made sure to be prepared prior to Hurricane Sandy and became a model for Westchester.

Grace said the town made sure to clear debris and shut down roads to allow NYSEG and Con Edison to do their job and restoring power.

"We were able to get the rest of the town up and running," Grace said.

Grace said in conference calls with other municipalities, they had 50 people out, while other towns had 50 percent of the population out. The town ended up exporting aid resources to other hard-hit municipalities.

"We took a hit, but we handled it," Grace said. "We have had many postmortems but how we handled it."

Murphy said the Public Service Commission needs to make sure Con Edison and NYSEG continue to be held accountable.

Murphy said the town took a triage approach, prioritizing the most important facilities that needed assistance and said Con Edison and NYSEG should consider that when restoring power.

"There's always room for improvement," Murphy said. "The way we handled things was exceptional."